Senpai or Sempai.

[brian]

In my organization we spell it Sempai, but that is only because that is the way you pronounce it. Aside from my Nidan in Kyokushin, I also have a Nidan in Kenpo. We have the same discussion about Kenpo or Kempo. No matter which way it is spelled, it is pronounced Kempo. So I guess it does not matter how we spell it.

[intwominds]

I spell it Sempai, as thats the way its spelled in our syllabus. We use first names in the dojo, even for senior students (unless they are black belts). However, if a senior student is taking the class, then we call them Sempai.

[Nix]

We pronounce and spell it Sempai. The title is reserved for shodan and nidan only, so if the instructor has 1st kyu or below, we simply call him/her by first name, even if you are of lower rank. Also, as of western tradition, we place the title before the first name, like so: Sempai Firstname Lastname.

[Uchi Deshi]

Hummmm... I wouldn't say that Senpai is only reserved for Shodan or Nidan.
At our dojo, it can occur that Brown belts are also being refered to as Senpai.
At that level, it can happen that some people do master some technics well enough so that they can either become instructor or assist higher ranked during sessions.

I've often assisted Shihan and Sensei as a second instructor on sessions while still a Brown belt (1st kyu). They just couldn't have an eye on everyone...
so I was asked to assist them during sessions. I often had to play the role
of the "bad guy"... (you know the one who usually gets hit or thrown down on the floor during self-defense demonstrations...). People then refered to me as Senpai.
Honnestly, people would have called me only by own name and it wouldn't have really made no difference to me at all

OSU!

[nzproud]

Uchideshi san. I think it's something to do with different styles so we can't really say what's right or wrong. However "senpai / sempai" in Japanese means elder person or a person who has higher grades / kyu in kyokushin. And "senpai" is a correct spelling if you want to write it in Japanese Roma-ji.

[smoothsake]

Originally Posted by nzproud

And "senpai" is a correct spelling if you want to write it in Japanese Roma-ji.

Yes, there is no stand alone "m" sound in Japanese, but there is a stand alone "n." So breaking it down phonetically it would be se-n-pa-i.

And I don't believe the Japanese "n" and "m" sounds are interchangeable. I mean, you don't hear the world "sensei" pronounced se-m-se-i. Right?

[nzproud]

I guess the best is to get a flight ticket and visit Japan! lol

Smoothsake san there is no M sound when pronouncing senpai.

[smoothsake]

Originally Posted by nzproud

I guess the best is to get a flight ticket and visit Japan! lol

One step ahead of you... got my vacation approved today and will be in Tokyo to party it up in November. Bring on the World Championship!

[nzproud]

Ay when? I have got my tickets to Japan in November from nov 4th to 25th ;p so im going to see the worlds I may wear a t-shirt with kyokushin4life.com written on it lol. smoothsake san, we can chat on facebook as we shouldn't hijack thsi thread. osu. or chat in this thread. http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...who-going.html

[Shiroryuu]

Well, from what I've learned in Japanese, the sound "n" becomes an "m" when it is followed by a "b", "p", or "m" sound. So Tenpura would be pronounced Tempura, Senpai as Sempai, etc. I myself really don't have much of a preference on which one to write, I find myself typing both sometimes.

[doogfood]

Due to the nature of the Japanese language, all Japanese alphabets are a syllable by itself, composed of a consonant followed by a vowel (except for the basic vowel sounds of a, i, u, e, o and "n"). Since Japanese people spell things in what is called a roma-ji when writing things in alphabets, the proper way would be "senpai", broken down into syllables (the way the alphabets are read) it will be se-n-pa-i.

This is something that I believe would be hard for someone to figure out if they don't understand the nature of the Japanese alphabets and the way roma-ji is used.

Trust me on this one, I'm Japanese.

[Bloke]

Thanks Doogfood

[ksan]

Originally Posted by doogfood

Due to the nature of the Japanese language, all Japanese alphabets are a syllable by itself, composed of a consonant followed by a vowel (except for the basic vowel sounds of a, i, u, e, o and "n"). Since Japanese people spell things in what is called a roma-ji when writing things in alphabets, the proper way would be "senpai", broken down into syllables (the way the alphabets are read) it will be se-n-pa-i.

This is something that I believe would be hard for someone to figure out if they don't understand the nature of the Japanese alphabets and the way roma-ji is used.

Trust me on this one, I'm Japanese.

I was thaught this aswell, the shihan who explained it said that there was no letter combination of "sem" but only of "sen" in the japanese language.